financial markets

Chart of the WeekHow Stock Markets Respond to Social Unrest

IMFBlog2021-05-10T10:49:35-04:00May 10, 2021|

What happens to stock markets when social unrest—such as mass protests and riots—occurs? Are investors scared-off by the disorder? Or are they buoyed by the prospect of positive, popular change in response to unrest? […]

Time is Ripe for Innovation in the World of Sovereign Debt Restructuring

IMFBlog2020-11-25T10:01:38-05:00November 19, 2020|

By Peter Breuer and Charles Cohen

عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский

When corporations have too much debt and need to restructure it, creditors often end up exchanging bonds or loans for stocks. They trade the guaranteed payout of a fixed-income investment for an equity position whose return depends on the company’s future results. […]

Emerging and Frontier Markets: Policy Tools in Times of Financial Stress

IMFBlog2020-10-26T10:33:09-04:00October 23, 2020|

By Dimitris Drakopoulos, Rohit Goel, Fabio Natalucci, and Evan Papageorgiou

عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Русский

After the unprecedented hit to economic activity in emerging market economies from the COVID-19 pandemic, their economic output is projected to shrink by 3.3 percent in 2020. […]

Economic Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean in the Time of COVID-19

IMFBlog2020-04-16T16:02:48-04:00April 16, 2020|

By Alejandro Werner

Español, Português

As of today, about 3,000 people have died from the COVID-19 virus in Latin America and the Caribbean. While the pandemic continues to spread across the region, countries are facing the worst economic recession since countries started producing national accounts statistics in the 1950s. […]

Europe’s COVID-19 Crisis and the Fund’s Response

IMFBlog2020-03-31T10:41:36-04:00March 30, 2020|

This blog is part of a series providing regional analysis on the effects of the coronavirus.

By Poul M. Thomsen

عربي, 中文, Español, Français, Italiano, 日本語, Português, Русский

COVID-19 has struck Europe with stunning ferocity. While we do not know how long the crisis will last, we know that the economic impact will be severe. In Europe’s major economies, nonessential services closed by government decree account for about one-third of output. […]

Potential Impact of the Coronavirus Epidemic: What We Know and What We Can Do

IMFBlog2020-03-16T15:04:05-04:00March 4, 2020|

This blog is the first of a special series on the response to the coronavirus

By Kristalina Georgieva

عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский

We all recognize that the situation with the spread of the coronavirus is very serious and could well get worse. This affects us all. Let me start with what we know and what we don’t yet know about the coronavirus and then how the global community can support those affected by this crisis in an effective and coordinated way. […]

A Call for Vigilance After a Strong Year for Risky Assets

IMFBlog2021-05-13T12:56:12-04:00January 28, 2020|

By Tobias Adrian and Fabio Natalucci

عربي, 中文, Español, Français

While we have seen some recent volatility, many risky asset markets around the world had a spectacular year in 2019. Equity market indices were up just over 30 percent in the United States, close to 25 percent in Europe and China, and over 15 percent in emerging markets and Japan. Emerging-market sovereign debt, U.S. high-yield debt, and emerging-market corporate debt all had returns in excess of 12 percent. Remarkably, the fourth quarter of 2019 was […]